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In the mid-1980s when Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. and Amadeus were dominating the big screen, Johnny Moore quietly bought a small house in Blacksburg. He worked his career as a Southwest Virginia Court Administrator, assisting with family counseling and juvenile and domestic relations throughout six counties and two cities.
The job responsibilities were intense, and settling in Blacksburg gave him respite, especially walking to and loving Hokie football games. Being a creative sort, Johnny evaluated the little place and decided it needed something on every side. He basically wrapped the house in construction – adding the primary bedroom suite and bathroom on one side and a double-car carport on the opposite side. There were three small bedrooms in under 1,400 square feet, and he removed one wall to make the primary bedroom a more reasonable size and add an ensuite bathroom.
In front, he renovated and expanded the porch, which now runs the entire width of the cottage and around some of one side. In the back, he built a beautiful, large screened porch with a tile floor and wood ceiling with a skylight and ceiling fan. This is where he and Linda spend much of their outdoor life in summers.
Match.com Yields a Match
Fast forward to 2006 and a presence on match.com. There, Moore connected and started communicating with Linda Monroe in Florida. Twenty years hence, the snowbird couple loves heading north in mid-April as much as they embrace going south for winter by early November.
Linda grew up in Miami and never has experienced winter weather. Outside of seven years in Dallas, Texas, she is a lifelong resident of the Sunshine State. They both love flowers and gardening along with the energy and excitement of a college town with “kids all over in Hokie outfits”, particularly during football season. They were a match, both retired or about to retire from government service.
Complementary Couple
Another good match in personality, Linda is a math major, experienced with numbers, analysis, contracts and deals. Johnny is detail-oriented and loves landscaping and lawn care. “There was one tiny flower garden spot when I came here. Johnny is serious about his lawn, mowing and fertilizing and did not want me to dig up any of it,” she states.
Then she talks of getting lucky when the town removed several old, large pine trees from the side of their property with the utility easement. “Now we have a slippery slope, where I slipped on wet grass,” she continues. “Johnny and I developed a plan, leveled that and added the rock retaining wall for a sweet walkway along one side and room for flowers.”
From there, the couple made other plans for flower beds and a small vegetable garden. Johnny sacrificed a little bit of his lawn, and the place is so pretty that it was included on the New River Valley Garden Tour in 2025, a major fundraiser for Friends of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library. Linda also grows flowers in Florida, lots of orchids, among others.
Together, they planned and renovated the kitchen into a fully-functional, contemporary, open space with an island, quartz counters, maple cabinets, stainless steel appliances, handsome pendant lights and the proverbial window over the kitchen sink. An adjacent dining area rarely beckons, as the screened porch is just another step away.
This small bungalow offers the same basic footprint as the house Linda grew up in, which she finds exceptionally comforting. Johnny has always been happy here, even through the dusty renovations. While in town, they especially savor the youthful energy and more mild summers than Palm Beach Gardens. Johnny and Linda spend time with friends and revel in taking meticulous care of their home, lawn and flower beds.
For a small place, relaxation spaces are abundant – front porch swing or rockers, side by retaining wall metal chairs, screened porch wicker or patio table chairs, living room, dining space, barstools at the kitchen island and Johnny’s own chair outside the backyard shed, a fave spot of his.
Johnny and Linda are a good match and savoring in their snowbird retirement life. They have flowers all around them wherever they are and relish the months spent in this captivating cottage in the New River Valley.
Text by Joanne M. Anderson
Photos by Christy Wallace
